Amazon enters battle versus Netflix with Prime streaming service

There's no way to tell just how far away from extinction the DVD and Blu-Ray formats may be, but it sure seems that more and more companies would rather have you pump movies through your broadband connection than spin up plastic platters.

Now Amazon has entered the fray with their own streaming service to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu (and the impending attempt from Redbox).

Officially: "Amazon.com, Inc. today announced the launch of a new benefit for Amazon Prime members: unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows. This new benefit is being added at no additional cost -- Prime membership will continue to be $79 per year. Movies and TV shows included with an Amazon Prime membership can be watched instantly on Macs, PCs and nearly 200 models of Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes that are compatible with Amazon Instant Video."

So if you've already joined Prime for the quicker shipping, now you get a bonus! If not, it means you could get a streaming service for less than seven bucks a month, with the added benefit of two-day shipping on all the physical crap you wanna order. Find out more HERE.

The heat is starting to turn up in the streaming battlefield -- Netflix may have to share the Criterion collection with Hulu, but they just grabbed rights to CBS series including classic "Star Trek" and "Twilight Zone". Now they all just better 'roid up their streaming quality if they want to keep customers satisfied...